Tammy Baldwin reveals mother’s drug addiction in new ad

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin has opened up about her mother’s prescription drug addiction in a new ad. In the ad, Baldwin, the first out LGBT person elected to the Senate, reveals that the crisis of widespread opioid addiction is personal for her.

“I remember what it was like to come home from school and not be able to get into the house. I’d pound on the door but my mother wouldn’t answer,” Baldwin says in the spot, broadcast throughout Wisconsin beginning today.

“She’d be passed out inside. My mother had a drug abuse problem.” Baldwin, a Democrat who is running for reelection, has often said she was brought up primarily by her grandparents but has said little about the reason until now.